ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old African-American boy shot to death last month in his gated Florida community by a white Neighborhood Watch captain wants to see the captain arrested, the family's lawyer said on Wednesday.

Trayvon Martin was shot dead after he took a break from watching NBA All-Star game television coverage to walk 10 minutes to a convenience store to buy snacks including Skittles candy requested by his 13-year-old brother, Chad, the family's lawyer Ben Crump said.

"He was a good kid," Crump said in an interview, adding that the family would issue a call for the Watch captain's arrest at a news conference on Thursday. "On his way home, a Neighborhood Watch loose cannon shot and killed him."

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Trayvon, who lived in Miami with his mother, had been visiting his father and stepmother in a gated townhome community called The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, 20 miles north of Orlando.

As Trayvon returned to the townhome, Sanford police received a 911 call reporting a suspicious person.

Although names are blacked out on the police report, Crump and media reports at the time of the shooting identified the caller as George Zimmerman who is listed in the community's newsletter as the Neighborhood Watch captain.

Without waiting for police to arrive, Crump said, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was on the sidewalk near his home. By the time police got there, Trayvon was dead of a single gunshot to the chest.

"What do the police find in his pocket? Skittles," Crump said. "A can of Arizona ice tea in his jacket pocket and Skittles in his front pocket for his brother Chad."

Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening at a phone number listed for him on the community's newsletter.

Crump said the family was concerned that police might decide to consider the shooting as self defense, and that police have ignored the family's request for a copy of the original 911 call, which they think will shed light on the incidents.

"If the 911 protocol across the country held to form here, they told him not to get involved. He disobeyed that order," said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the family.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," said Crump, who has prepared a public records lawsuit to file on Thursday if the family doesn't get the 911 tape. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Since Trayvon, a high school junior who wanted to be a pilot, was black and Zimmerman is white, Crump said race is "the 600 pound elephant in the room."

"Why is this kid suspicious in the first place? I think a stereotype must have been placed on the kid," Crump said.

On Tuesday’s AC360, CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke with two witnesses, Mary Cutcher and her roommate Selma Mora Lamilla, who were at the scene of the gated community, The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida, the night Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman. “So you heard some sort of whining, some sort of commotion outside?” Cooper asked.

“We were in the kitchen, with the window open and the blinds pulled. So we had complete view from outside,” Cutcher explained.

Cooper asked her what was the first thing she saw.

“By that time, you hear like a shot — like some other noise,” Lamilla described.

“You heard the gunshot?” Cooper interjected.

“Yeah, I run away from my backyard and when I just get into the point of my — like my screen, it stopped me, I look at the person on his knees on top of a body,” Lamilla elaborated.

“So you saw Mr. Zimmerman on top of Trayvon Martin?” Cooper questioned.

“Trayvon, exactly,” Lamilla said.

“When you say on top of, how so?” the CNN anchor pressed.

“Straddling him,” Cutcher replied.

“His legs were straddling him?” Cooper followed up.

“One on each side, on his knees, with his hands on his back. I immediately thought, okay, obviously if it’s the shooter, he would have ran,” Cutcher detailed. “I thought he’s holding the wound, helping the guy taking a pulse, making sure he’s okay. When she called to him three times, everything okay, what’s going on? Each time he looked back, didn’t say anything and then the third time he finally said, ‘just call the police.’”

“But at that time it was so dark,” Lamilla added. “I just saw this person. When she started calling the police, I saw Zimmerman walking with — touching like his hair, like kind of like confused back and forth to the body.”
Lamilla and Cutcher described Zimmerman pacing around the body, following the shooting, and disputed that there was any indication of a fight.

Of course its matter of opinion, but I don't find anything overly reasonable about the assumption that a good kid, by all accounts

All of what accounts? Al Sharpton's and the family's? Aren't his records sealed? I had read that he was on a suspension from school during his stay at his fathers......does that negate the 'all accounts'? Paren't always say their kids are good, teachers always say good things about kids....I am not saying he was a bad kid but I don't necessarily buiy he was an angel that just happened to get suspened from school around this time either.

We can agree on this point, I expect this as well. My fear is that no matter what the verdict/sentence/outcome no one will be satisfied......even though this appears to be a very difficult case, with lots of room in the grey areas.

For example some lesser charge like negligent homicide....will that be enough for the family to feel justice was done?

All of what accounts? Al Sharpton's and the family's? Aren't his records sealed? I had read that he was on a suspension from school during his stay at his fathers......does that negate the 'all accounts'? Paren't always say their kids are good, teachers always say good things about kids....I am not saying he was a bad kid but I don't necessarily buiy he was an angel that just happened to get suspened from school around this time either.

He has no criminal record and no school history of violence.

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